


A Little Piece of Heaven

by Crowley_Winchester



Category: DCU, Shazam! (2019)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-10 02:56:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18651487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowley_Winchester/pseuds/Crowley_Winchester
Summary: After the events of Shazam!, the powers the rest of Billy's family have are beginning to take a toll on the young hero. His family gives up back the powers, but Freddy can't help but wish for them back. While struggling to be seen as Billy's equal, Freddy makes a few mistakes, and both begin to realize what matters most.





	A Little Piece of Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing Shazam, enjoy!

“Billy, come on, you’re always so slow!”

Billy looked back up in the sky from the roof where he landed, watching the rest of the family soar past him. He was out of breath, attempting to even keep up anymore a struggle. 

“Billy? Are you alright?”

The hero looked up at Darla’s concerned face floating above him, and he smiled, waving her on. “I’m just feeling a little lazy tonight. Go on, I’ll catch up with everyone in a second.” As Darla flew out of sight, Billy sat down, a sigh coming from his lips. If he was being frank, this feeling was becoming more of a regular occurrence. Ever since he had given the rest of the family his powers, his own had decreased in strength. First, he hadn’t noticed it. A couple nights being sore. But nothing worth being concerned about. It was one night that changed that. He had been flying, attempting to catch a plane in free fall, when all of his family called out “Shazam” at the same time. And before Billy knew what was happening, he was in free fall along the plane. It was only a few moments before he regained his strength, but he knew what it meant. This family superhero business couldn’t stay. Darla and Eugene were young enough that they would understand. Mary didn’t even really want the powers to begin with; she wanted to focus on college and her future, not put her life on the line daily. Pedro might be a bit unhappy about it, but Billy couldn’t exactly tell. Pedro has never been much of a talker. It was Freddy that held Billy back. He knew taking away Freddy’s powers would break his heart. Powers were all Freddy wanted his whole life, and to say now he couldn’t have them anymore? But as Billy saw a familiar blue costume fly up to him in concern, the hero pushed the thoughts out of his head. It would just have to wait. 

“Billy? What’s up, we’ve been waiting for you. Darla wanted us to race again.”

Billy pushed himself up to his feet, his lips pressed in a grimace for a moment before running a hand through his hair. “Sorry. Was just thinking about some stuff.”

Freddy frowned, his brow furrowing, but he didn’t say anything about the lie he could so easily detect. “Alright. Well, come on!”

The blue-costumed hero flew off, and Billy ran a hand through his hair before pushing himself to his feet. It took a moment of collecting his strength before he was able to push off, flying and joining the others.

\-------------------------------------------

 

Freddy wasn’t the only one who had begun to notice something was wrong with Billy. In and out of the costume, Billy was tired, bags under his eyes becoming the new norm. He was more quiet than not, not having much strength to do anything between school and Shazam other than sleep. It was on one of these days, in which Billy fell asleep as soon as they got home from school, that Mary decided enough was enough and called a meeting between the siblings.

“Listen, I think I’m not the only one who has noticed something is wrong, right?” Met with a room full of nods, Mary continued. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, and the only thing I can come up with is us.”

“You mean Billy doesn’t like us anymore?” Darla’s brow was already furrowing. “Maybe we can throw a party or something?”

“No, Darla, I think Billy still likes us. But us having powers, I think it’s doing something to him.”

Mary looked around, her eyes falling to Freddy for confirmation. If anyone would know something about the superhero business, it would be him. 

Freddy wasn’t looking at anyone, his eyes boring into the floor. He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to admit what he knew was true. Eventually, however, he cleared his throat. “Yeah. That’s the only thing I can think of too.”

Mary nodded, biting down on her lip. “Well, I’ve got only one idea. Everyone, wait here.” 

As Mary went upstairs, Darla looked over to her older brother. “Freddy, did you know something was happening to Billy and didn’t tell us?”

“I didn’t know anything was happening, ok?” The retort was sharp, and as Darla looked away, clearly upset, Freddy just gripped tighter onto his crutches. The truth was that Freddy had known, and had hoped it would just go away on its own or that Billy would get used to the extra drain on his powers. All Freddy really wanted was to walk. Why was that too much to ask? How come Billy got the powers, and he had to stay like this, a cripple?

Freddy’s thoughts came to a stop as Mary came back down the stairs, holding the two parts of the staff Billy had snapped that night at the carnival. “I don’t know if it will work, because it’s broken, but at least we can give it a try, right?”

“No! Absolutely not, do you have any idea how dangerous that could be? You can’t just start slapping together broken artifacts and hope that they still work the same! What are you going to do if it backfires and kills Billy?”

“Well then what do you suggest we do? This is how we got his powers, and this is our only chance of giving them back to him. For all we know, Billy is going to die if we leave him like this.”  
Freddy and Mary stared at each other for a long moment, Freddy gritting his teeth before looking away. “Fine. Whatever. It’s not like you ever listen to me anyways, why should now be any different?”

Mary sighed, but that didn’t stop her from getting in the middle of the group, holding the halves of the staff together. “Alright, guys, I need you to put your hands on it like Billy had us do. Eugene, that means you need to get off you game and come here.”

The family gathered around, Freddy being the last and most reluctant to put his hand on the staff. Mary took a deep breath, Freddy’s warning to her flickering in the back of the mind before she swallowed. “On three, we’re going to say Billy’s name, ok? One, two, three.”

“SHAZAM!”

The group were blown back from the staff, which had repaired itself in a blinding flash of light. The kids got to their feet, Freddy being helped up, before a loud crash from upstairs caused them to turn towards the figure sprinting towards them.

It was Billy, standing in the middle of the living room and looking better than anyone had seen him for a while. He was beaming, practically bursting with energy. “Guys, I finally got my powers back, I-” His eyes fell on the staff, and the smile disappeared instantly. “You didn’t.”

“We came to a decision, Billy, that it was more important that you had all of your powers than just some of them,” Mary said with a small smile. 

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“No, but you needed us to do that.”

Billy never looked more relieved in his life as he stared around at his family. He knew that this had been a sacrifice for all of them, but to have them give up their powers before he even asked? “Wait, where’s Freddy?”

The slamming of the front door answers Billy’s question, and he moved away from the group, looking out the window and watching the other move quickly away from the house.

“Let him go, Billy. He’s not happy with you,” Darla spoke up. “You should make him a card. I’ve got crayons!”

“What did I do?”

“Don’t be silly, Billy. He gave up his dreams for you. The least you could do is make a card."

**Author's Note:**

> I have the whole fic written out in bullet points, so hopefully it won't take me too long to figure out how to put everything into words. I hope you guys won't be waiting too long for the next chapters. Believe me, I know this chapter was a bit slow, but I've got a lot more coming lol. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment.


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